1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a self-contained module for intensive care and resuscitation which module can be used in the transport of sick and injured persons to a medical care center.
2. Brief Description of the Background of the Invention Including Prior Art
The transport of sick and injured people to medical care centers requires the use of specially furnished vehicles, outfitted with all the equipment necessary for the resuscitation and for the medical assistance. The operating costs of these vehicles, in particular of air-transport vehicles, are very high. The reason for this is, on the one hand, their specific use and, on the other hand, the high degree of technical sophistication of the medical apparatus with which these vehicles have to be equipped.
In order to reduce the operating costs of this type of vehicle, the solution would be to use these vehicles at certain points for purposes other than those initially planned. Nevertheless, such a solution is very difficult to implement since it requires the full demounting of the medical equipment
The size of a fleet of such vehicles is very small and, in particular, the vehicles for air transport are not always available at a desired point in time. Since the members of the First Aid Squad cannot use the regular vehicles, they have to await the arrival of these ambulance vehicles for the evacuation of sick and injured people.
Moreover, in the absence of ambulance vehicles, the injured person cannot be helped at the accident site by an optimum technical environment, which includes various equipment for respiratory and cardiac care, and other equipment.
The German Petit Patent DE-GB 8,530,826.9 to Burkhart Brucher teaches a support for invalids. The support for the invalids can be assembled at the location of use.
The European Patent Application, Publication No. 0,002,274, to Helmut Hess teaches a first-aid capsule for accommodating and treating of accident victims showing undercooling effects and hypothermic symptoms.
The French Patent 2,506,153 to Patrick Petit teaches a stretcher and its carriage support for an ambulance.
The German Patent Application Laid Out 2,538,411 to Binz GmbH teaches a stretcher-support frame with liftable, spring-supported carrier support.
All this equipment is associated with the disadvantage that it is fairly bulky and difficult to store in a space-saving way.